Inmate Idol Rocks Arpaio's Jail House

[IRiSHMaFIA]

Jailhouse Rock rose to a whole new level at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Tent City Friday night.

The six finalists of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's first ever "Inmate Idle" contest showed off their singing talents before thousands of their fellow inmates.

Unlike its televised American Idol counterpart, the sheriff purposely spelled his idle.

The tent had the goal of team-building and self-esteem building for inmates. Arpaio said his staff reported back to him that the program generated positive camaraderie and has made good use of the inmates' idle time.

The judges were Arpaio, Alice Cooper and a Elvis impersonator played by detention officer Bret Kaiser.

Master of Ceremonies was Bob Hilton from the Dick Clark Company, which is considering making a national talent show based on Arpaio's idea.

Inmates contructed and painted the set for the performances.

The top prize -- Big Macs, pizza, milkshakes and cake -- went to the winner and all his fellow inmates living in his tent, a far cry from the 15 cent meals the sheriff normally serves.

And the winner? Judges selected Corey Brothers, 36, who is serving time for violating probation, for his performance of "My Girl."

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I saw some of these guys singing and they were brilliant. The guy who won could easily win American Idol he's that good.

[faceless]

sounds pretty cool - got any video?